Apparatus for agitating freezing water.



E. H. ALTHOFF. APPARATUS FOR AGITATING FREEZING WATER.

. APPLICATION FILED AUG. I0, l9l4.

Patented'Mar. 20, l917 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

E. H. ALTHOFF.

APPARATUS FOR AGITATING FREEZING WATER.

- APPLICATION FILED AUG. 10, 1914- 1219,897, Patented Mar. 20, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2. /8f

Witnesses Z; I fl/ wa 246% a I fi/izaaer U ITED sTATEs PATENT onnron.

EDWARD H. LTHoEE, or sALT LAK CITY, UTAH, ASSIGNOR on ONE-HALF ROSER, 0ESALT LAKE cITY, UTAH. V V

APPARATUS FOR AGITA ING FREEZING WATER.

Application filed August 10, 1914. I Serial No. 856,016;

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, EDWARD H. ALTHoEE,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Salt Lake City, county ofSalt Lake and State of Utah, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for Agitating Freezing IVater; and I dodeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of. theinvention, suchas will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for agitating freezingwater. This invention is adapted for use in artificial ice plants, andits object is to make it practicable to freeze ice in a perfectly clearstate, thus preventing the white ice which results from air bubbles inthe water. Furthermore, by virtue of this agitation of the water, allimpurities of a solid character are I eliminated during the freezingoperation,

and gradually brought to the top of the can, where they may be separatedfrom the ice cake.

By use of my improved apparatus continuous circulation of the waterthrough the the medium of a suction pipe or conduit, a

corresponding quantity of water is removed from the can. In this way,the quantity of water in the can is maintained at all times, but. thecirculation is continuous and uninterrupted, thus producing resultssuperior to those attained through the instrumentality of anintermittent discharge and removal, as heretofore employed.

With reference to the apparatus, I may employ a pump of any suitablecharacter. A centrifugal pump, for instance, may be employed toadvantage. In this case, the

discharge conduit is connected with the outlet extremity of the pump,while the suction conduit is connected with the suction chamber. In thisway, as the pump is operated, the water is circulated through the mediumof the pump and two conduits, the one conduit continuously dischargingwater into the can with sufiicient force to result in the scale. y

. necessary agitation, while'theother conduit is continuously removing acorresponding o LoUIs A; V 7

amount of water from the can, the ClIGll'lfL-Y tion being throng, thepump, as will --be" readily understood.

As illustrated in the drawing, special 'apparatus 1s employedfore'supporting thedischarge and the suctlon nozzles, which are'fconnected with the two conduits, thisapparatus being readily removable,from the frame work surrounding the top of the can,

when it becomes necessary to remove the cans after the freezingoperation is com plete. cans may be connected with a single pump,provision being made for retarding the dis- A battery of any desirednumberof charge of water into the: cans which-are" struction, Iwillproceed to describe the same in detail, reference being made to theaccompanying drawing in which is illustrated an embodiment thereof. Inthis drawing,

Figure 1 is a top plan viewof a battery 7 of cans connected with asingle pump. 7 7

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view cutting threecans of the battery,the one can being shown complete, while the cans on opposite sides arepartly broken away.

Fig. 3 is a sectional detailed iew of one 7 of the controlling valvesfor regulatingthe volume of water passing through the dis charge andsuction nozzles 'connectedwlth each .can, the parts belng shown on alarger Fig. l is a fragmentarysection of one of the discharge nozzlesconnected withany.

can.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of-th e appa- Let the numeral 5 designate abattery of cans in an ice freezing plant, the usual framework orsupporting structure being employed. As is well understood, this is askeleton-structure, the-top being a rectangular frame 6, into which the.top of each can fits, whereby the can is properly centered,

its lower extremity resting upon a support 7, in the bottom 8 of thebrine tank. This support spaces the can from the bottom of the tank,whereby the brine is allowed to come in contact with all parts of itssurface.

In my improvement as illustrated in the drawing, I employ an inductionor discharge conduit 9, which extends the entire length of the batteryof cans and between two rows of cans; and a suction conduit 10 alsoextending the entire length of the battery between the two rows of cans.This discharge pipe is connected in operative relation with a dischargenozzle 12 of each can of the two rows of cans between which a dischargeor supply conduit is located. There is a short pipe 13 located below andconnected with the conduit 9, as shown at 14, whereby the water passesfreely from said conduit to the short pipe. From each extremity of thisshort pipe a branch pipe 15 leads upwardly and is secured to a beam 16by means of a bracket 17, the branch pipe extending far enough above thebracket to permit the connection of a flexible pipe 18 therewith, asshown at 19, the opposite extremity of the flexible pipe being connectedas shown at 20 with a nipple 21 threaded into a casing 22 of a valve 46,in which casing is rotatably mounted a valve piece 23, the valve havinga perforation 24 which registers with the nipple 21 when the .valve isin the desired position. Threaded into the lower part of the casing 22as shown at 25, is the depending nozzle 12, whose discharge extremity isequipped with a screw plug 27 having a reduced passage 28, whereby thedischarge of water downwardly through the nozzle is retarded, as itenters a tank 29, thus increasing the force with which the water isdischarged into the can, and causing the water to pass downwardly to thebottom of the can or to the bottom of the water in the can. In thisnozzle 12 is located a fixed valve 30 having pointed upper and lowerextremities 31 and 32. The water as it passes through the nozzle flowsaround this valve and passes thence downwardly through the duct 28. Bythe proper adjustment of the plug 27, the nozzle may be closed, sincethe upper part of the plug has a cone-shaped seat 33 adapted to lit theextremity 32 of the valve which is of counterpart shape.

This valve is an important feature, since it makes it practicable toaccurately regulate the discharge of water into the series of cans,whereby the discharge to all of the cans shall be equal. For thisreason, the discharge valves mounted on the tanks nearer the source ofsupply or the pump, are adjusted to reduce the available opening throughthe corresponding valves since the tendency would be for the water totake the shortest course and therefore enter the nearer cans inpreference to those farther away. However, by retarding the flow to thenearer cans and properly graduating the retarding influence by theproper adjustment of the various valves 23, the discharge into each canof the entire battery may be equalized. For the purpose of regulatingeach of these valves a removable key 34 may be employed. This key isprovided with a socket 35 adapted to fit the exposed extremity 36 of thevalve piece 23, said valve piece extremity being polygonal in crosssection and the key socket of corresponding shape. Surrounding a collar37 formed in the valve casing 22 is an adjustable collar 38, which issecured in the desired position of adjustment by a set bolt 39 passingthrough a curved slot 40 formed in the collar. This collar is providedwith a stop pin 41 located in the path of a projection 42 formed on thehandle 43 of the key. The object of the stop pin 41 and the adjustablecollar 38 carrying the said pin, is to make it practicable to set theconstruction so that when the key is actuated to bring its lock 42 intoengagement with the stop pin 41, the person in charge will know that thevalve piece 23 is properly adjusted for the corresponding can, havingreference to the location of the latter or its distance from the sourceof supply. When it is desired to manipulate the valve with reference tothis adjustment, it is only necessary to reverse the position of thehandle from that shown in Fig. 3, whereby the projection 42 extends awayfrom the valve casing, in which event, the key may be manipulatedwithout en gaging the stop pin. It will be noted by reference to Fig. 3,that the key is reversible as the socket extends entirely through thehead of the key.

Arranged below the suction conduit 10 is a short pipe 4 from eachextremity of which a branch pipe 44 extends upwardly and is connectedwith one extremity of a flexible pipe 45 whose opposite extremity isconnected with the nipple of a valve 47. Within this casing is located.a valve piece 23 which is substantially of the same construction as thatheretofore described when speaking of the valve 46. In other words, themechanism of the valves 46 and 47 are substantially the same, both asregards their construction and the manner of their adjustment, thereference character 46 being em ployed to designate the valve mechanismin its entirety, which is connected with the discharge pipe 18, whilethe reference character 47 is employed to designate in its entirety thevalve mechanism connected with the suction pipe 45. The suction nozzlewill be designated by the numeral 48 in Fig. 3, since this nozzle isslightly different in construction from the discharge nozzle 12, as thelatter is provided with the retarding plug 27, while this feature isabsent in the suction nozzle. With this exception, the entire dischargeand suction features employed in connection with each tank, are of thesame construction and the description heretofore given when speaking ofthe parts of the valve 46 is equally applicable to the same parts of thevalve 17, the construction being shown in detail in Fig. 3.

In order to properly support the discharge and the suction nozzles, Iemploy a spider device 49 which consists of a circular member 50centrally arranged at the top of the can and having arms 51 and 52connected therewith and leading outwardly therefrom, their outerextremities being hook-shaped as shown at 53, to engage the can and thesurrounding frame work 6 on opposite sides. In thismanner, the circulardevice is rigidly supported at the top of each can, but is at the sametime, readily detachable therefrom. In order to further maintain eachspider device 419 in cooperative relation with its corresponding can, Iemploy spring hooks 54 which are connected with the arms 51 on each sideof the circular device 50, the arms 51 being bent to form eyes 55 withwhich the eye extremities 56 of the hooks are interlocked. These hooksare inserted in openings 57 formed in the can and the registeringopenings 58 formed in the frame 6. These hooks are placed undersufiicient tension as they are crowded into the openings, to cause themto remain in position until removed by design.

While I have now described the suction and the discharge apparatusconnected with poses with the two corresponding conduits 9.

and 10, in the samemanner as heretofore described, the parts being shownin detail in Figs. 2 and 6, inclusive. Hence, when the invention is inuse, there is a continuous and equable discharge toreach can of the bat-V tery and acontinuous and equable exhaust from each can of'the'battery, this being brought about through the instrumentality ofthe valve mechanism 16 and 17. 1

' As illustrated in the drawing see Fig. 1), a pump 59 is employed, itsdischarge opening 60 being in communication through a pipe 61 with abranch pipe 62 whose opposite extremities are connected with the twoconduits 9 of the battery 5; while the suction opening of the pump isconnected by means of a pipe 63 and a branch pipe 64: with the twosuction conduits 10 of the battery 5.

can in thesame manner as if my improve ment were not employed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is,

1. Water agitating apparatus comprising a pump, a battery ofwater-containing cans, discharge and suction conduits in communicationwith the pump at one extremity, their body portions extending betweentwo rows of cans of the battery, and a pair of discharge and suctionnozzles for each can of the two rows, the nozzles of each pair for eachcan being respectively in communication with the discharge and suctionconduits, and means for controlling the supply and removal of water fromeach of the several cans in order that the supply to and the removalfrom each can of the battery may be equal.

'2. Water agitating apparatus comprising a pump, a battery ofwater-containing cans,

discharge and suction conduits'in communication with the pump in oneextremity, their body portions extending between two rows of cans of thebattery, and a pair of discharge and suction nozzles for each can ofduits, andmeans for reducing the quantity EDWARD H- ALTHOFF." Witnesses:7

MAZE KIRBY, A. EBERT O7BRIEN.

Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, byaddressing'the Commissioner of'latonti.

Washington, 13.0." i

the tworows, the nozzles of each pair for-c each can being respectively;1n communication with the discharge and suction con I ofwater deliveredto and removed from any

